Kadhi Pakora – Mild Indian Yoghurt Curry with Spinach Dumplings

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Fans of vegetarian Indian dishes will love this mouthwatering traditional Punjabi Kadhi Pakora. It’s an easy-to-make, mild Yoghurt Curry with Spinach Dumplings (Pakoras)

A note about affiliate links in this post: some of these links will take you to Amazon where I may receive a small percentage of sales, at no extra cost to you. 

We are midway through February and slowly approaching the season of salads and “light” meals again. So I think we can all agree, that the time to bring on those last real Comfort Food Recipes, is now.  For me, Indian food ranks very highly amongst all my comfort food favorites and today I’ll show you my latest recipe crush:  Kadhi Pakora. Think of it as a mildly spiced, creamy Yoghurt Curry with little Spinach Dumplings in it.  If you have never had it, you HAVE to give it a try!

I love vegetarian curries and when I watched Chetna Makan prepare Kadhi Pakora with her mother on her youtube channel, and saw how incredibly excited they got over this dish, I knew, that I just had to try it myself. And man, am I happy to have found out about it. Seriously, this might be my new favourite Indian recipe of all times.

To be fair, I got to say that the spinach dumplings are actually little, fried Spinach Pakoras. However, as I like to simmer my pakoras in the kadhi curry sauce before serving, they get a lot softer and are really more a dumpling than a crispy pakora. Also, I think that the pakoras give a special aroma to the Yoghurt Curry, which is why I like let the finished kadhi pakora sit for a bit before it’s time to eat.

That said, if you think you might prefer your pakoras crispy, you can just mix them with the yoghurt curry right before serving.

For my spinach pakoras, I used fresh spinach. If you are using frozen spinach, make sure to thaw it completely and blot it dry to avoid additional moisture in our pakora batter. As for yoghurt, just make sure you get a sour kind of yoghurt. I went with the Indian Yoghurt available at my local grocery store. Please note that a higher fat content makes for a creamier texture and a more full-bodied taste. Personally, I would not go below 2 %.

Oh gosh, eating this Kadhi Pakora feels like a warm hug from my imaginary Indian Granny! I really hope you get a chance to try this delicious Indian Yoghurt Curry with Spinach Dumplings. I guarantee, that you will fall in love with its creamy texture and mild flavour. Serve it with rice on the side for a filling meal.

A note about affiliate links in this post: some of these links will take you to Amazon where I may receive a small percentage of sales, at no extra cost to you. 

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Indian Yoghurt Curry with Spinach Pakoras {Kadhi Pakora}

Fans of vegetarian Indian dishes will love this recipe for mouthwatering traditional Punjabi Kadhi Pakora. It's an easy-to-make, mild Yoghurt Curry with Spinach Dumplings (Pakoras)

Course dinner, lunch, main

Cuisine Indian, vegetarian

Keyword curry, easy, Indian, mild, Pakora, Punjab, Vegetarian, Yogurt

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 2

Calories 600 kcal

Author Kiki Johnson

Ingredients

• For the spinach pakora
• 40 g Spinach fresh
• 1 small onion
• 75 g gram flour/besan flour
• 1/2 tsp mango powder / amchur
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• For the kadhi
• 50 g gram flour
• 250 g full-fat yoghurt
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp tumeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 green chili
• 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick 3 cm long
• 6-7 curry leaves
• rice for serving

Instructions

1. 1. Wash the spinach and spin it dry in a salad spinner. Chop the spinach finely.Peel and dice the onion. In a medium bowl, mix gram flour with 3/4 tsp salt, mango-, coriander-, and chili powder. Stirring constantly with a whisk, add lukewarm water tbsp by tbsp until a thick batter forms. I needed about 5 to 6 tbsp of water to get the right texture. Now whisk vigorously for about 2 minutes until the dough gets a bit fluffier. Add onions and spinach and whisk to combine.
2. Heat 250 - 300 ml of oil in a deep pan or a pot until a thermometer reads 175 Celsius / 357 F. For one pakora, take about 1 tbsp of pakora batter and carefully drop it into the hot oil. Fry the spinach pakoras for about 2 minutes until golden brown on all sides. Transfer onto a plate lined with kitchen paper towels.
3. For the yoghurt sauce, stir together the gram flour with 1 1/2 - 2 tsp salt, yoghurt, chili, tumeric, coriander and garam masala until a smooth batter forms. Add about 600 - 800 ml water and whisk to combine.
4. Peel onion and garlic and cut into thin slices. Cut the chili in half and scrape out the seeds. Cut into thin slices.
5. In a pan, heat 2 tbsp oil on medium heat and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon and curry leaves and fry for about 2 minutes until fragrant and the mustard seeds begin to pop. Add onion, chili and garlic and fry for 2 more minutes until the onions start to look translucent.
6. Add the yoghurt mix to the pan and stir well. Add 1/2 tbsp of sugar, stir well and bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes.
7. Use the waiting time to prepare sides, like rice.
8. Season the yoghurt curry to taste with salt and sugar and add some water, if you find the curry to thick. Add the pakoras to the curry and let the kadhi pakora simmer for another 5 minutes.
9. Serve with rice.